Father-Daughter Conversation (Part 1)

[Congratulations on leveling up!]

[Current Level: Lv3]

[Experience to next level: 75/300]

[Unlocked at Lv5--Number of Corrupted contract slots +1]

The amount of experience gained depends not only on the strength of the monsters but also on their status and attributes. Although the paper strength of these Kalleva gangsters wasn't as high as the Kobolds in the dungeon, the actual experience they provided to Liao Ji was quite decent for the early game.

A group of about fifteen gangsters allowed Liao Ji to successfully level up again with some surplus. The only pity was that when Liao Ji checked the experience logs, he confirmed that he had indeed received no experience from the leader, Grey Wolf.

Liao Ji had intentionally left Irin behind earlier, refraining from interfering in her battle with Grey Wolf, partly to test this exact mechanic. The result proved once again that his leveling system strictly followed the underlying logic of Falling.

He could not gain experience directly; he had to have a contracted Corrupted participate in the battle to reap the rewards from a kill. Although the girl had landed a face-smashing punch on Grey Wolf at the very beginning, it didn't count as participating in the battle according to the system's judgment.

Liao Ji remembered that in the lore of Falling, this mechanic was explained by the fact that experience points were essentially a form of Corrupted pollution.

When a Corrupted engages in combat, they continuously accumulate this pollution within their bodies. As the "protagonist," he could use "contracts" to extract this pollution from them, subsequently converting it into his own power.

This explained why he couldn't gain experience while fighting alone, and it also explained why, during the Knights Order's previous screening of him and Irin, Irin's Corrupted pollution levels remained extremely low despite her being a "Corrupted."

"I really need to hurry up and level up!" Liao Ji couldn't help but sigh to himself while sitting in the van.

He toyed with the business card of the young Church knight, Tamik, which he had requested earlier, secretly pondering whether he should find out the locations of a few Kalleva strongholds so he could take Irin to "rid the people of evil" and wipe out a few gangster dens before leaving the settlement.

It wasn't that he was after the pathetic attribute points gained from leveling—after all, the protagonist's growth coefficient was lower than even the lowest two-star card. Well, he was after them too; even a mosquito's leg is meat, after all.

But more importantly, it was the various protagonist authorities that could be unlocked and upgraded upon leveling up; that was the real prize.

For instance, every five levels, he could add an extra "contract" slot. Or, for example, although there was no prompt yet, Liao Ji, as a veteran player, knew that the "Crystal" authority would be unlocked after reaching Lv7.

He had previously mentioned that the protagonist could absorb the Corrupted pollution from within a Corrupted and convert it into experience. Once the "Crystal" authority was unlocked, he would have a new option: to filter, purify, refine, and finally crystallize this Corrupted pollution.

That's right, the upgrade materials for Corrupted that Liao Ji had previously called "dog food"—those [Corrupted Crystal]s—were made exactly like that.

After taking one more from Grey Wolf to experiment with, he only had three [Corrupted Crystal (Small)] left from the stash he'd brought out of the secret room. Liao Ji's ideal plan was to save them for his second Corrupted, who would hopefully have at least four-star initial potential. Of course, if a sudden situation arose and he desperately needed combat power, he could use them all on Irin.

Three small Corrupted Crystals should be enough to max out Irin's level to 30, bringing her strength close to a "Danger Rank" Corrupted. This was the benefit of low-star, low-tier units: they required very few resources to rapidly increase combat effectiveness in a short time.

After briefly summarizing his "first battle" since transmigrating, Liao Ji's thoughts returned to reality, and he cast his gaze out the van window.

Right now, the group from the Haisha Bar was heading to another bar owned by a friend of theirs, led by their boss, Brian.

According to the older man, whenever they safely survived a "big storm," they had to celebrate and drink to their hearts' content; it was a tradition among scavengers.

Irin had naturally refused at first, as she was in a hurry to pick up her mother from the clinic. However, Brian told the girl that he had sent someone to check on Nolan yesterday, and the doctor said Irin's mother's condition had stabilized and wasn't worsening, so she just needed to wait for the surgery. He told the girl not to worry and firmly insisted that this "celebration" wouldn't take long and wouldn't delay her much.

Seeing Brian's persistent attitude, even the slow-witted Irin seemed to understand something, so she stopped refusing.

Brian had also warmly invited Liao Ji. Unlike Irin, Liao Ji understood exactly what the older man was up to at a glance, so without needing further explanation, he agreed quite naturally.

That was pretty much how things stood, which led to the current scene.

The new bar wasn't far, and Brian arrived in his beat-up van in just a few minutes.

As an aside, the reason they weren't holding the celebration at the Haisha Bar was that although the rampage incident had ended, according to Church regulations, for safety reasons, no one was allowed to approach or enter any area where Corrupted pollution had occurred for one week. Thus, the Haisha Bar was under a sealed quarantine.

After parking the car, the group entered the new bar. Compared to the Haisha Bar, it was clearly smaller, had very few customers, and was very quiet, with a somewhat private atmosphere.

Brian was friends with the owner, and after exchanging greetings, they were given a private room. As soon as Liao Ji entered, the Haisha crowd immediately surrounded the young man, resuming the heated conversation they had started in the van.

When Irin tried to follow them in, she was pulled aside by Brian, who led the girl away silently and quietly.

Liao Ji had anticipated this, so he just glanced at them once before turning his attention back to chatting with the Haisha folks.

On the other side.

Irin followed behind Brian, and the two soon arrived at another soundproof room next door.

Bang!

After closing the door and being truly alone, Brian stared at the girl, who was leaning against the wall with a guilty expression, unable to meet his eyes.

After a brief silence, Brian spoke in a very grave and serious tone:

"Irin, look me in the eyes and tell me, are you a Corrupted?"

"Huh? Old man, what kind of joke is that? How could I possibly be a Corrupted?"

"Really?" Brian frowned and pressed again.

"Of, of course! Besides, you saw the Church's test results earlier, didn't you? The concentration of Corrupted pollution in my body is even lower than yours!"

Irin refused to budge, and she brought up the strongest possible proof, which indeed left Brian unable to refute her.

Finally, the bearded man sighed.

"Irin, you know that your father and I were best friends. But I wasn't as lucky as your father to find a virtuous woman like Nolan. I'm just an old bachelor, so ever since your father passed away, I've always looked at you as my own daughter."

"W-what are you doing, suddenly getting all emotional? It sounds like a final farewell!"

"Isn't it?" Brian countered.